As a cell analyzer that analyzes cells contained in a biological specimen collected from an organism, there has been conventionally known a cell analyzer that screens cancer cells or atypical cells by measuring, with a flow cytometer, epithelial cells of the uterine cervix contained in a specimen collected from the uterine cervix of a subject (see Patent Literature 1, for example).
The cell analyzer described in Patent Literature 1 (US Patent Application Publication No. 2011/0014685) above includes: a cell dispersion unit which actively causes aggregated cells of a biological specimen to be dispersed in a biological specimen container; a flow cytometer which perform measurement of cells dispersed in a measurement specimen, which have been subjected to the dispersion process through the cell dispersion unit; and a data processing apparatus which analyzes measured data from the flow cytometer to determine whether or not cells in the specimen are cancerous.
The cell analyzer described in Patent Literature 1 allows for a determination of whether or not cells in the measurement specimen are cancerous. However, cells highly aggregated in a biological specimen are not to be dispersed in an appropriate manner. This results in impaired degree of accuracy in the analysis. Therefore, it is desired that highly accurate cell analysis can be performed even when cells in a biological specimen are aggregated at a high level.